ABOUT
A psychological evaluation is a comprehensive assessment of a person's mental health, behavior, and overall functioning. It typically involves a combination of methods, including interviews with the individual and their loved ones, standardized questionnaires and tests, and observations of the individual's behavior. The goal of the evaluation is to gather information that can help diagnose mental health conditions, inform treatment decisions, and track progress over time. The results of the evaluation are confidential and are used to develop a personalized treatment plan that addresses the individual's specific needs and goals.
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A parent may consider getting their child a psychological evaluation for a variety of reasons, including:
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Concerns about their child's behavior or emotional well-being: If a parent is worried about their child's behavior, mood, or overall functioning, a psychological evaluation can help determine if there are any underlying mental health issues that need to be addressed.
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Learning difficulties: A psychological evaluation can help identify any learning difficulties or disorders, such as dyslexia or ADHD, that may be impacting a child's academic performance.
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Developmental delays: If a parent is concerned about their child's developmental progress, a psychological evaluation can provide insight into their abilities and help identify any delays.
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Troubled behavior: If a child is exhibiting problematic behaviors, such as aggression, defiance, or impulsiveness, a psychological evaluation can help determine the underlying causes and guide appropriate treatment.
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To inform treatment decisions: Psychological evaluations can provide important information for developing a treatment plan for a child struggling with mental health or behavioral issues.
It's important to keep in mind that psychological evaluations are only one part of a larger process of assessment and treatment and should be interpreted in the context of other information about the child.
TESTING Q&A
Who are your testing clients?
We specialize in psychological and psychoeducational evaluations of children and adolescents.
What types of evaluations do you offer?
We offer a range of testing and assessment services:
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Psychoeducational Evaluations
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Comprehensive Psychological Evaluations
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ADHD Evaluations
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Private School Admissions and Advanced Academic (Gifted Testing
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Accommodations testing/placement testing for SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT
When can evaluations be helpful?
If you have concerns about learning, attention and executive functioning, behavior, development, or social skills, an evaluation could be helpful to determine if there is an underlying disorder causing your concerns versus immaturity, lack of study skills, or typical developmental issues. Our evaluators have extensive experience evaluating learning disorders (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia), attention (ADHD and ADD) and executive functioning disorders, giftedness, emotional and behavioral disorders (anxiety, depression, OCD, other mood disorders, and disruptive behavioral disorders), and Autism Spectrum disorders.
What can I expect?
The testing process typically starts with an initial intake session where the evaluator meets with you or your child to collect detailed background information relevant to your concerns. Following the intake session, testing session(s) will be scheduled to administer psychological, educational, social, emotional, and behavioral assessments as relevant. The length and number of tests sessions will be determined by schedules, age and attention span of your child, and the type and number of assessments needed to answer your referral questions. Finally, an interpretive feedback session will be scheduled to review the results of the evaluation and go over the personalized recommendations based on the evaluation data.
What will come out of an evaluation?
Testing will help to identify the underlying causes of learning, social, emotional, or behavioral problems. As a result of an evaluation, you will receive a comprehensive written evaluation report outlining and interpreting the results. The evaluation report will include any diagnoses that may be relevant. In addition, you will also be provided with personalized recommendations and a plan for moving forward based on the testing results.
Why should my child be evaluated by a school psychologist or school psychologist resident at
Think Happy Live Healthy?
All of our school psychologists have spent time working in local public school systems, which makes them uniquely qualified to understand children and their school-related difficulties. We offer families a unique skill set that sets us apart from other evaluation centers. We provide each individual with an extensive report and meet with the family to discuss the specific and individualized recommendations for the road to success. We understand how to work with schools and get children and adolescents the support they need to thrive in school.
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Do we offer evaluations to support accommodations on high stakes tests?
As we approach standardized “testing season,” we want to highlight that we do offer evaluations that may help. We have been getting inquiries about whether we conduct evaluations that can be used to support applications for accommodations on high stakes tests. Yes, our psychologists do conduct these types of evaluations.
If you or your child will be taking a standardized test in order to get into college, graduate school, law school, or medical school, you may be entitled to reasonable accommodations if you have a mental or physical disability like a learning disability or ADHD. We can conduct evaluations if you are planning to take the following high stakes tests:
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SAT
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ACT
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GRE
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LSAT
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GMAT
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MCAT
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you/your child may be entitled to reasonable accommodations to fairly participate in an academic program, test, or job. The accommodations you may receive depend on the type of disability and degree of impairment. Every standardized test has specific requirements and deadlines regarding requesting accommodations. The testing organizations are responsible for granting or denying requests for accommodations, and many require recent psychological or psychoeducational evaluations to help inform their decisions.
We conduct psychological and psychoeducational evaluations that include a comprehensive clinical interview to help us understand important psychological, medical, educational, and social background information as well as current functioning. We also review relevant medical, psychological, and school records. We then administer psychological tests to evaluate abilities and current functioning as relevant. Evaluations may include assessments of general cognitive abilities, academic achievement (reading, writing, and/or math), executive functioning, attention and concentration, and social/emotional functioning. After we complete the evaluation, we will write a comprehensive report that integrates our findings including any relevant diagnoses and recommendations for treatment. We then offer a feedback session to share the report and review the results and recommendations.
If interested please complete this testing referral form: https://www.thinkhappylivehealthy.com/therapyappointment
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